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Mara Olivas is releasing her first novel this November called “Sundown in San Ojuela”, a fictional story that explores family history and identity through a queer, Indigenous and Chicana lens.
The book is a tongue-in-cheek gothic western about a clairvoyant girl named Liz Remolina who takes an uneasy journey back home to uncover the mystery of her aunt’s murder. To Liz’s terror, she finds that “monsters and ancient gods stalk the night”.
Previously, Dublin author’s short fiction as a horror writer and Chicanafuturist has reached publications such as Uncanny Magazine, Weird Horror Magazine, Apex and Bourbon Penn.
As a trans, first-generation Chicana author, Olivas said she is passionate about telling stories to fill in the dearth of narratives that center her identities. These stories are ones she wished she could have read as a kid and ones she hopes others will love too.
“Who’s my audience? Who am I writing for?” she prompted. “It’s me. It’s the smaller version of me.”
“Sundown in San Ojuela” emerged from her undergraduate thesis in creative writing at the University of California, Riverside where she worked with award-winning fiction author Nalo Hopkins.
In the realm of speculative fiction, which encompasses science fiction and fantasy, Olivas finds a boundless space to write about themes of interest.
“If I want to talk about the horrors of colonialism upon the Indigenous people of Mesoamerica and how that still perpetuates to this very day, I can have immortal vampires be a really good allegory for that, and characters who then existed all the way through that, from that beginning up until the present day, when my story takes place,” she said.
Following graduation in 2020, she continued writing the “Sundown in San Ojuela” for another two years until she sold it in February 2022.
Olivas appreciates the support of Hopkins, her editor and the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop — an application-based program for authors with the potential for a highly successful writing career, according to the Clarion website.
“Clarion set me up with professors who gave me time and attention with my work as well as industry knowledge,” she wrote. “Clarion also provides lots of opportunities for writers to get involved within the spec(ulative fiction) community, but most importantly, it gave me a cohort that I feel so lucky to be so bonded with.”
Only recently has the reality of her book kicked in.
Even a month ago, the emotional loftiness of publishing her first novel hadn’t hit. It’d been multiple years in the making, given the slow turning of production cycles.
“It felt more like a Wikipedia fact, rather than something I was experiencing,” she said.
But recent interviews, conferences and panels have brought the achievement to reality. Those and the arrival of advanced reader copies with her name.
Upon the novel’s release Olivas will tour locally, in Los Angeles, the East Coast and more.
“With ‘Sundown in San Ojuela’, I hope people take away feeling that it’s OK for them to be who they are, as a level of pride, and maybe joy in the possibility of a future that does get better — especially for people who are struggling at home, either closeted or in difficult situations at home,” Olivas said.
She also hopes that this novel spurs people who aren’t in marginalized groups to become increasingly empathetic in their views, political opinions and how they treat others in the community.
Currently Olivas is forging ahead in an MFA program at San Jose State, where she’s pursuing a master’s in creative writing, learning to teach writing and working on her next novel.
“Sundown in San Ojuela” and its audiobook will be available on Nov. 19. The novel is currently available for preorder through the publisher Lanternfish Press website and many other booksellers.
